How do I know when to raise money or cut costs at my startup?

You watch your burn and your runway, so you can see the ground coming. What you cannot yet see clearly is the future, the projections that would tell you when to raise and when to trim. That uncertainty is heavy, because the wrong call in either direction can hurt. Wanting more certainty here is wise, not weak. The truth is that no projection removes the risk; it only makes it visible sooner. The founders who sleep at night are not the ones who predict perfectly. They are the ones who decided in advance what signals would trigger action, so the choice is not made in a panic when the cash is already low. So build the simplest version now. Map out your cash under a good case, a plain case, and a bad case, month by month. Then set your rules ahead of time: at this runway I start raising, at this point I cut. When you decide the thresholds while calm, you protect yourself from deciding them while afraid. That is what turns dread into a plan.